A Distributed Antenna System (DAS) typically includes one or more master units that are communicatively coupled with a plurality of remote antenna units, where each remote antenna unit can be coupled directly to one or more of the master units or indirectly via one or more other remote antenna units and/or via one or more intermediary or expansion units. A DAS is typically used to improve the coverage provided by one or more base stations that are coupled to the master units. These base stations can be coupled to the master units via one or more cables or via a wireless connection, for example, using one or more donor antennas. The wireless service provided by the base stations can included commercial cellular service and/or private or public safety wireless communications.
In such a safety application, the safety wireless capacity provided by the DAS and the associated base-station-related equipment during normal operations may not be sufficient in emergency situations (such as a fire or security event) due to the presence of many additional users of the safety wireless service. As a result, it is common to provision a DAS used for such safety applications with additional base-station-related and DAS equipment (base stations, repeaters, etc.) that operate in a standby mode during normal operations but can be activated in emergency situations in order to provide increased safety wireless service capacity when necessary. To enable an operator to determine the status of the DAS and the base-station related equipment and activate and deactivate standby equipment, operator control panels (OCPs) can be deployed in several locations associated with the DAS. Each OCP can include operator input and output components (such as buttons, switches, light emitting diodes (LEDs), liquid crystal displays (LCDs), and the like) for receiving from and providing to an operator information about the DAS and the base-station-related equipment. In some facilities, OCPs may be located at major entrances to the associated site, such as a building or underground tunnel. Other OCPs may be positioned at other locations, such as near designated emergency access points.
Typically, the several OCPs communicate with each other and with a management entity via a separate, dedicated OCP network (OCPN) that is implemented using cabling that is entirely separate from the cabling in the DAS used for communicating the safety wireless service traffic. Such a dedicated OCPN is typically implemented using copper cables so that both power and signaling communications can be provided to the OCPs over the cables of the OCPN. Installing dedicated OCPN cabling for such purposes, however, requires an additional investment when deploying such a DAS.